50 Years of Family Fun at Carowinds - Part 2: The Paramount Parks Years (1993 - 2006)

In celebrating "50 years of Family Fun at Carowinds,” we wanted to take a deep dive down the rabbit hole of the park’s kids-centric land, which has varied in size and scope over the years. For the sake of a timeline, we’re going to break this deep dive into three parts over the next few weeks: The Taft Broadcasting years, The Paramount Parks years, and The Cedar Fair years. 

In part one, we highlighted the park's Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera under Taft Broadcasting's ownership of the park, with then PR-manager Claire B. Lang leaving us with this quote from the early 1990s:

“We have long-range plans to make the park grow in all areas. This year, we’re catering to families, especially if they travel. They want to take the little ones with them, and they want the little ones to participate!”

Now it's time for Part Two, the Paramount Years.

Animation Station

On August 1, 1992, it was announced that Paramount Communications, Inc. had purchased Carowinds (along with several other parks owned and operated by Kings Entertainment Company (KECO) - the spinoff of Taft Broadcasting's theme park business. Upon completion of the deal, rumors began to swirl about what new attractions would come to Carowinds.

"For now, you'll have to imagine them, because officials from Paramount and Kings Entertainment say it's too early to talk about any new attractions," wrote Clifford Glickman for The Charlotte Observer in 1992. "The companies also declined to discuss the possibility of a movie studio theme park at Carowinds." 

While the "movie studio" theme (think Universal Studios or Disney-MGM Studios at the time) never truly materialized, Paramount did make sure that their intellectual property made its way to the park. Following the opening of the "Days of Thunder" Simulator in 1993, and "Wayne's World" in 1994, it would take until 1995 for Carowinds' kids-focused area to receive its next additions. 

The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera received its new name of "Animation Station" ahead of the 1995 season. 

"The premise is much like the park had with last year's centerpiece Wayne's World: Portray the worlds of cartoons such as Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone in real life," wrote Blair Skinner for The Observer. "The area will feature a Cartoon Walk of Fame, a sort of Grauman's Chinese Theater with the hand, foot and paw prints of stars of the painted screen. The walk features an Animator's Workshop where park visitors can see how cartoons are made."

Carowinds also added two play structures in 1995: The Power Station and the Low Voltage Center. The three-story Power Station included two 30-foot slides, a 400-square-foot pool of balls along with several climbing nets and towers, perfect for both kids and parents. The Low-Voltage Center was a scaled-down version of the structure, built for children shorter than 44 inches tall.

The park also added the "Kid's Studio" outdoor amphitheater in 1995. Two shows -- "Hanna-Barbera Rockapalooza" and "Backyard Circus" - were performed several times daily in the Kid's Studio.

Several attractions also received new names as part of the addition. Scooby-Doo had "Ghoster Coaster" added to its name. Boo Boo's Balloon race was renamed Peter Potomus' Magic Flying Balloons, Bamm Bamm's Boat Float became Wally Gator's Tube Shoot. Scrappy's Skytower became Elroy Jetson's Space Station. The former ShortLine railroad, which had already undergone its first name change to the Flintstone Express, was now known as Yogi's Jellystone Garden.

Zoom Zone

Families wouldn't have to wait too much longer for new additions to Animation Station, as 3.5 acres were added to the park's boundaries with the addition of the $2.5 million "Zoom Zone" at Animation Station in 1998. 

"We asked families what they wanted, and they said to experience an attraction with their children," Michelle Mayhew, the park's media relations person, told The Observer. "This new area is so colorful and so cute, and it really adds a lot more options for families with younger children."

Zoom Zone brought three new attractions to the park's kids’ area, including Chopper Chase, an elevated helicopter ride that offered a flying tour of the surrounding area, the Taxi Jam kiddie roller coaster with cars that resembled taxicabs and police cars, and Road Rally, a 1,200-foot track where kids could "cruise" in classic cars.

1998 would also mark the park's introduction to Nickelodeon Characters for the first time which were owned by Paramount and Viacom. Guests could interact and have their photos taken with three of the Rugrats gang - Angelica, Tommy, and Chuckie. While the park would add the Nickelodeon themed "Flying Super Saturator" roller coaster in the spot where Flying Cobras currently resides in 2000, the park's Nickelodeon presence would become a lot stronger in 2003 with the addition of Nickelodeon Central.

Nickelodeon Central

Carowinds' "Old World Marketplace," despite being an opening day "land" at the park, never really had much in the way of attractions. The Gauntlet, a "Falling Star" from Chance Rides, opened in 1990, but much of the rest of the area was devoted to retail and upcharge attractions. The area, adjacent to Animation Station, was renamed Nickelodeon Central in 2003, saw the re-theme of "The Gauntlet" into "Rocket Power Airtime" and absorbed another "opening day" attraction into its boundaries, the Powder Keg Log Flume, which was re-themed to the Wild Thornberry's River Adventure. 

The new area included rides, restaurants and merchandise inspired by Nickelodeon characters, including the new-for-2003 Rugrats-themed Runaway Reptar roller coaster, a family-friendly inverted coaster from Vekoma.

With three “kids’ areas” - Animation Station, Zoom Zone, and Nickelodeon Central seemingly on top of one another, the decision was made to consolidate all three areas into one theme under the Nickelodeon Central, which gave the park five times the space for its Nickelodeon attractions. With the added space, it only made sense for the park to add several new attractions to the area, including Flying Dutchman's Revenge (Peanuts Pirates) themed to the Spongebob Squarepants character, and Danny Phantom's Phantom Flyers (Mountain Gliders) and Little Bill's Cruisers. Nicktoons Cafe became the centerpiece dining option in the area, and a new show, Nick Live - featuring trivia and slime, of course! -  debuted that season.  

With the Hanna-Barbera brand gone from Carowinds, it meant that the area's existing attractions all needed new "Nickelodeon-ified" names. We probably won't get the whole list, but Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster was now the Fairly OddCoaster. The classic carousel was now the Nick-O-Round. Dora the Explorer was well represented with a few attractions of her own, as Yogi's Jellystone Garden became Dora the Explorer's Azul Adventure, and Peter Potomus' ceded his Balloon Race to Dora's primate partner, Boots. Taxi Jam and Chopper Chase both got soft refreshes with Hey Arnold and LazyTown, and Dastardly & Muttley's Flying Machines were given the new alliterative name, Tommy's Takeoff. 

After going all-in on Nickelodeon, Carowinds' kids’ area definitely had established its own (giant-sized) identity. However, there was once again new ownership on the horizon. Ownership that didn't have access to the Nickelodeon catalog. 

To Be Continued...